Well an early start on the day thanks to the lumpy motel 6 mattress. We made the border crossing at Coutts about 9:30 & a nice bottle of 15 yr old Dalwhinnie & a litre of Crown Royal crossed the border with us. The line up was long, but we found the fast lane, so about 25 minutes in the line. The border guard asked if I had any criminal convictions, to which I answered not yet, so he let us go forward. Chinooks are very nice, warm weather, dry roads but the 80-90 km crosswinds all the way to Helena Montana were vicious. The roads south of Helena in the Elkhorn mtn pass were passable. The driving lane was mainly bare, but there was a lot of slush and ice in the left hand lane. Hardly any snow until the pass, quite a bit in the mountains. Missed the flying J pit stop in Butte, so had to stop in Dillon Montana for gas. Saw lots of antelope in the fields. Got to the dreaded Monida pass about middle of the afternoon & it was all dry and bare, one of our best trips through there. The clouds were low, right down to the road in places & they are forecasting 2 ft of snow on Wed, Thurs, so we just missed it. Made it all the way to Pocatello Idaho [1,002 km today] & got a very nice room in the Best Western & a great dinner at Applebys. Temp today was mostly above zero, 35F here, so about +2C. Pictures are the highway in Montana pass & fishing cabins along the Missouri river. Finally looking out at the mountains under the Chinook arch.
Well an early start on the day thanks to the lumpy motel 6 mattress. We made the border crossing at Coutts about 9:30 & a nice bottle of 15 yr old Dalwhinnie & a litre of Crown Royal crossed the border with us. The line up was long, but we found the fast lane, so about 25 minutes in the line. The border guard asked if I had any criminal convictions, to which I answered not yet, so he let us go forward. Chinooks are very nice, warm weather, dry roads but the 80-90 km crosswinds all the way to Helena Montana were vicious. The roads south of Helena in the Elkhorn mtn pass were passable. The driving lane was mainly bare, but there was a lot of slush and ice in the left hand lane. Hardly any snow until the pass, quite a bit in the mountains. Missed the flying J pit stop in Butte, so had to stop in Dillon Montana for gas. Saw lots of antelope in the fields. Got to the dreaded Monida pass about middle of the afternoon & it was all dry and bare, one of our best trips through there. The clouds were low, right down to the road in places & they are forecasting 2 ft of snow on Wed, Thurs, so we just missed it. Made it all the way to Pocatello Idaho [1,002 km today] & got a very nice room in the Best Western & a great dinner at Applebys. Temp today was mostly above zero, 35F here, so about +2C. Pictures are the highway in Montana pass & fishing cabins along the Missouri river. Finally looking out at the mountains under the Chinook arch.
Sounds like the trip is going well... glad to hear you got a good bed,and a proper meal tonight. Love you both. xx
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